


Ouryuu

by Nishinoya4Yuu



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Blood and Injury, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Lonely Zeno, Mild Gore, Pre-Canon, Self-Mutilation, Zeno hurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 20:30:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11215716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nishinoya4Yuu/pseuds/Nishinoya4Yuu
Summary: Everyone Zeno has ever loved has died. Zeno really wishes he could join them.~Spoilers for Zeno's past and power~





	Ouryuu

**Author's Note:**

> This spoils Zeno's power so if you don't know all about Zeno yet it's probably best to stay away and leave that wonderful shock factor to the manga/anime. 
> 
> I just wanted to write a little snippet of Zeno's past. We know he's had a rough time with his power and coping with everything that it means. We know he's done various amounts of self-harm in the past. I just wanted to try to capture even a little moment of that.

The last rays of the day were just sinking below the horizon. The retreating sun left the world to be covered by the quickly darkening blue of twilight. The crescent moon cast a cool glow over the whole evening. The tall grass of the field rustled in the slight breeze and the sound of cicada's filled the air.

A small house sat off to the edge of the field. Candle light was flickering gently in the wind and pouring through the open door. The owner of the house was busy outside in the field so he didn't have time to pay attention to the light. 

The blissful scene was broken when a feeble voice from the field chocked out, “I want to die! Please! Just let me die!” 

A young man fell to his knees in the middle of the field. His face was turned towards the heavens and his messy blond hair hung limply back from his head. His whole body heaved and shuddered as he called out, “Please...Hiryuu....” 

He choked on his sobs and then when his pleas received no response, anger flashed across his face. He balled up his hands and then began to mercilessly pound them into the ground. There hadn't been any rain recently so the ground was hard and turned to dust with the impact of his fists. So he pounded again, and again. 

“Please...” he sobbed, “ I didn't ask for this!” 

He wailed and pounded his fists into the ground until blood started to seep out from his knuckles. Someone in their right mind would have probably stopped at the sight of the blood; he just kept pounding harder and harder. It was as if he wanted to shatter the bones in his hands. 

“Please, Hiryuu!! Zeno doesn't want to live anymore....” 

Tears started to well up in his eyes and he couldn't have stopped them falling if he tried. It was all just too much. The tears finally fell from his red and swollen eyes tracing small tracks down his dirty cheeks. 

Never taking his eyes from the sky he opened his hands and then jammed them into the ground. His fingers hit the ground with force and bones snapped. He screamed out with pain, but it still wasn't enough to really damage him.

Zeno finally looked down at his bloody and broken hands. His eyes focused on his fingers as yellow dragon scales began to appear on them. His fingers practically glowed yellow as his bones knit themselves back together and his cuts sewed themselves shut. The damage wasn't permanent. It never was. 

This is what it meant to be the Yellow Dragon. And he had no idea this was the price he'd pay when he vowed to protect King Hiryuu in place of the Ouryuu. His comrades were granted things like the power to jump very high as if to soar through the skies. Another had the power of a dragon's claw focused into one arm. Even the Blue Dragon's eyes that could paralyze and kill anyone in an instant would have been better than this. Even that would have been preferable to this “gift” that Zeno had received. 

Zeno curled his freshly healed hands into balls and let out one final scream. All of his sorrow, pain, fear, and envy combined into that horrific scream. It was loud and clear even through the tears. It was guttural and desperate as it rang though the night. It left him shaking violently where he knelt. 

The scream faded to silence as his voice grew hoarse. His shuddering slowed and he looked down at his hands through the twilight once more. They were still covered in blood, but they didn't hurt anymore. There were no wounds. No cuts, no sign of any injury save the blood. He was fully healed; the poor boy who couldn't die. 

After a long while Zeno finally stood up and let his shaking legs carry him back into his small home. The one room hovel was dirty and dim with only one small candle casting shadows. In the corner lay what was left of his deceased wife's remains. They were hardly even bone now, mostly just dust. It was a very long time ago that Kaya had breathed her last. 

Zeno ignored the skeleton and grabbed the candle from the table and then silently sat on the floor in the middle of the room. He carefully took the candle and held it up over his face. Every movement he made was full of thought and calculation. He slowly tilted it to let the wax drip down onto his face and into his eyes. He screamed in pain but didn't stop until the candle went out on its own. 

It was almost inhuman how quickly the pain faded away. He found his skin completely healed in a matter of minutes. He slowly picked the dried wax off his face. The only indication that he had ever hurt at all were the shiny yellow scales that covered his face where the burns had been just a moment before. 

Of course it was all useless. As useless as his very breathing. He could stop breathing right now and it wouldn't make one difference to if he lived. He would live, it wasn't a question anymore. Nothing he could do would end his life. _Nothing._ He had been decapitated at one point but he still lived. If that didn't kill him he was fairly, painfully, certain that nothing would. 

So he just sat there silently staring at the wall. His expression was completely blank as he lost himself in his mind. His stomach grumbled but he ignored it. How many years had it been now? Surly at least 1,000? Maybe more? He'd lost count. He hadn't even really bothered to try to count in the first place. 

And so he sat. He spent months and years sitting there alone. His stomach had long ago stopped making noise when it realized no food was coming. Kaya's remains were now nothing but a stain on the floor. The seasons cycled endlessly outside and years passed as Zeno remained silent. There was nothing to do, no reason to live and no way to die. So he just sat.

~

Zeno's face scrunched up in confusion some untold and unknown amount of time later. There was a strange noise coming from outside of his house. It was light and happy and he couldn't understand what could possibly make that noise. Finally comprehension dawned on his face as he recognized the sound. The laughter of children had broken his silence. Zeno slowly turned his head towards the door and listened. 

The laughter came to a sudden halt and a young boy's voice squeaked, “They say it's haunted!” 

"A young man and woman used to live there. They say he killed her and then watched her body rot away, too afraid to face what he'd done. And then he killed himself," an older girls voice wove the scary tale. 

"I dare you!" the young boy squeaked. 

Slowly the door began to creak open, dust falling from the cracks. A small girl peaked her head inside and jumped when she saw Zeno staring blankly at her. 

"I'm sorry, mister! I'm sorry!" She backed out "Someone's there!" she whispered. Zeno could hear the three of them running away laughing. 

He squinted into the sunlight shining through the door and slowly stood up. His body wasn't even stiff from sitting. He truly was eternally 17. He slowly walked to the door and gazed upon a beautiful spring day. The field before his house was filled with flowers and birds flew through the pale blue sky. 

He hesitated for a moment in the doorway but finally took a single step outside. He stood just outside the door and looked up. The warmth of the sun enveloped him as he breathed deeply of the hot air. He was looking on a world that he hadn't seen in ages. Startlingly little had changed. It seemed his little field was as timeless as his body. 

He put one foot in front of the other and ran through the tall grass that filled the field in front of his home. That's the moment his stomach decided to rumble again. For the first time in years he realized he was hungry. He held is stomach and then for the first time in a decade he laughed. A warm, mighty laugh that could fill the world with happiness. 

"Zeno is hungry...." he said as he laughed. 

He dropped down to the ground and rolled through the tall, warm grass. The blades tickled his face as he continued to laugh. Finally he stopped rolling and spread out all of his limbs in a epic stretch and watched the sky. 

An hour or so later he got up and went back into his dirty home. He realized that if he really looked closely at his hovel he could see signs of how much time had passed him by. His home was nearly ready to collapse in on itself and the dust and dirt that crept into every corner was a stark contrast to the beautiful day outside. He'd been so far gone that he hasn't realized any of it. 

He carefully stepped back inside and made his way to a small shelf the held a few dust covered objects. He brushed off his old mirror and grabbed a knife that was a little too dulled by age. He carefully grabbed a small whetstone from the shelf and began sharpening the knife edge. When he was satisfied with his work he turned his attention elsewhere. 

He walked over to a small chest and knelt down in front of it. He opened the lid and carefully pulled out a set of robes that had been clean once upon a time. He shook them out and was satisfied enough with them. He drew the 'clean' clothes close to his body and hugged them. With his arms full and a smile on his face he ran to the nearby river. 

He squatted down on the river bank and washed himself. He scrubbed his skin clean until it ached and was red and raw to the point that tiny golden scales began to appear over his small injuries. He felt new and alive as his body repaired itself. He rolled backwards until he was sitting on his butt and then stretched his legs out in front of him. 

Reaching over he grabbed his knife and haphazardly cut his waist length hair off in large chunks. When he was happy with the results he was grinning ear to ear. He grabbed a green silk scarf from his pile of clothing and tied it neatly around his head. He looked into the small mirror and saw a face that looked 17, bright and happy. He shifted slightly and the gold dragon pendant of King Hiryuu glinted in the sun. He careful took it from around his neck and tied it onto the scarf on his head. He appraised his work in the mirror and smiled. It was a new day. It was time for change. 

He took a deep breath and filled his lungs with warm air. He jumped up and knew without a doubt that it was time for a new chapter of life. 

"Zeno doesn't know what waits, but it's time," he sighed. 

He took one step and then another and another. 

And he never looked back.

**Author's Note:**

> Zeno's found his path. Bless him. Just....everybody please give Zeno a hug. Poor boy deserves it after everything. 
> 
> I'm not sure how convincing it is that something like children laughing could snap Zeno out of his awful state of nothingness but there you have it. I wanted to leave the ending with Zeno on a happy note. He's accepted everything and he's moving on. To Yona and the new Dragons!


End file.
